Approved December 6, 1804
This act authorised her to sue in Washington County, for a divorce from her husband, John. T. M'Neff, and to obtain it on a jury's finding that he had a wife at the time he married her, and that he had deserted her for the space of two years, or failed to contribute anything to the support of herself and her children, or that he had since married to, or was living in adultery with another woman.
There's an index of Kentucky divorces from 1795 - 1850 online here. It's where I first discovered that all may not have been rosy in the McNeff household. I have quite a bit to say about 17th and 18th century divorce, but I just spent the last two hours pretending to know *something* about statistics. It's not my strong suit. Still, I hear so many people say, "but divorce was so uncommon back then."
Consider this:
In 1804, there were 7 divorces in Kentucky - the same number there had been in 1798. Granted, there were some years you couldn't find a divorce in the state - and you'd be hard pressed to say the same today. In 1843 the number was 104, and in 1849 it was a whopping 156. Divorce certainly existed. The reasons were many - and varied. My "favorites" are the two poor women whose husbands up and joined the Shakers. It was a sect that required celibacy of its members - and the Shakers actually created rules to prevent a person from joining their church to escape the "duties" to his or her spouse.
Glenda Riley wrote an excellent book called Divorce: An American Tradition
. I've just finished reading it. I'm excited about some of the things I've learned. Stay tuned ...Want to read more divorce acts? It might make you think differently about your own life ... click here
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